A second Wendy's is coming to Vineland

Sep. 25, 2013

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VINELAND — The city is getting a second Wendy’s restaurant thanks to a judgment call by zoning officials that a fast-food outlet isn’t out of place in the Main Road commercial corridor between Landis and Chestnut avenues.

Businessman Robert G. Rone, who owns the Wendy’s on Delsea Drive near Landis Avenue, is buying a roughly 3-acre property at 190 S. Main Road for the new restaurant. The site holds a house converted into office space for the Flaster/Greenberg law firm that’s seldom used, according to its owners, and a carriage house.

Rone told the city Zoning Board he plans to raze the house to accommodate a 3,280-square-foot restaurant. The carriage house, set further back on the property, will remain as an office building.

Rone also disclosed his other Wendy’s here will be torn down and rebuilt. That demolition is planned for one year after the new restaurant opens, he said.

The Zoning Board last week approved Rone’s request for a use variance on the Main Road property after more than 90 minutes of discussion. The vote was 5-1 vote, with three members recusing themselves for a variety of potential conflicts of interest.

The approval came with two conditions, both addressing neighbors’ concerns:

• The board set a midnight closing time for the restaurant.

• The deed language would require, should the property be resold, that it remain as one tract.

Owners of two neighboring properties bitterly protested the application, while another homeowner supported it.

Rone needed special zoning permission because the land is classified in a way that allows a wide variety of businesses, including restaurants, but not fast-food restaurants.

It’s directly across the street from properties zoned differently, including the Maintree Shopping Center, that do allow fast-food restaurants.

Rone testified that he explored buying property in the other zone. The shopping center rejected him, he said, because the Burger King franchise there has an agreement excluding its competitors.

Attorney Michael Gruccio, representing Rone, argued there was no clear difference from a zoning code perspective between a fast-food restaurant and a restaurant.

Rone also testified there was no other area in the city that zoning would allow a business like his.

“I’ve been looking for another location in Vineland for 10 years,” he said. “Finally, I realized that lot was for sale, and I bought the lot.”

Philip W. Snyder Jr., who lives at 220 S. Main Road, said he has no problem with the idea. “I’d much rather have that than some of the things that could be done with it,” he said.

Snyder said he used to have a chicken hatchery on his property, which previously was a dairy farm.

Jeffrey Zavis, a Roberts Boulevard resident whose home is behind the property, asked the Zoning Board to deny the application. He said the restaurant would lower the value of his home and cited lights at night, noise from cars and landscaping changes.

“Wendy’s is a late-night establishment — which is completely ignored in the presentation,” Zavis said.

Dominic Romano, an accountant with an office on South Main Road, said the restaurant would add to already heavy traffic. “It’s not easy to get on Main Road, so there’s going to be a problem,” he said.

“It’s totally going to change the character of the area,” Romano said. “It’s a pretty nice area. I have nothing against restaurants, but this is a little bit different.”

Rone said: “I develop in a very beautiful fashion. I try to blend in.”

Romano also questioned the claim that land was unavailable on the east side of the road.

Zoning Board member Ryan Flaim cast the lone no vote. “I guess I just can’t picture that blending in with lights and cars,” he said.